Assembly Affordable Housing report
The London Assembly Housing Committee published a report on affordable housing delivery. It shows that, as of March 2025, starts had been made on 5,200 new homes compared with a target of a minimum of 17,800.
Details and comments are at
London Assembly affordable housing monitor 2025.
Savills: Challenges for affordable housing delivery in London.
Rhys Williams: Politics and market reality are worlds apart.
Living on the streets
TfL have been granted permission to clear a temporary encampment of homeless people on the strip of green land in the centre of Park Lane. The Mayor pledged to end rough sleeping in the capital by 2030, as in the update in July on rough sleeping.
Figures from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) released as here show that almost 4,400 people were “living on the streets” in London from April – June 2025 which is up 26% from the same period last year and more than [more…]
Building More Homes
The Housing and Land Directorate in the GLA has presented for approval by the Mayor a Building More Homes strategic programme to contribute to the aim that Londoners live in homes they can afford. Details are here.
It includes activity towards meeting the Mayor’s commitment to deliver 40,000 new council homes, delivery of 6,000 ‘rent control’ homes for key workers by 2030 and establishing a new City Hall developer.
Social housing fund
The Government has announced an allocation of £11.7 billion to the GLA over ten years for the delivery of additional social and affordable housing with a minimum of 60% as Social Rent. The programme will support some regeneration schemes that provide a net increase in homes on a site. Five steps to a decade of renewal are explained in the policy paper, including for rents, borrowing costs, building safety, skills and capabilities.
Consultations on a new Decent Homes Standard and on Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards are [more…]
Streetlink for rough sleeping
Further to last week’s update on rough sleeping, there is a website Streetlink that anyone can use to seek help for someone sleeping rough.
APCOA Civil Environmental Enforcement Officers working in partnership with Ealing and Hounslow Councils, will be able to connect people sleeping rough with local support by using an app installed on their handheld devices. Officers will be able to pinpoint the exact location where a person has been seen sleeping rough and provide a brief description to help support teams recognise and assist the [more…]
Reforming the Right to Buy
Following the consultation on this subject, the Government has responded with a set of reforms to be implemented when Parliamentary time allows. The changes include
- extension of Right to Buy eligibility to ten years,
- exempting newly built social and affordable housing from the Right to Buy for 35 years, and
- using more Right to Buy receipts to deliver new social and affordable housing.
Rough sleeping
The Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Plan of Action ensures that any Londoner at risk of homelessness can more easily access help no matter where in London they live, or which service they contact first.
A summary is here of the key initiatives and the dependencies on Government action to support the plan.
Comments from recipients of this update are welcomed on what their own borough does to support homeless people.
Council housing finances
London Councils’ report Crunch Point for London Council Housing Finances warns that boroughs are not in a position to maintain spending in real terms on council housing stock, despite the urgent need for investment in improving housing conditions and building new homes.
Councillor Grace Williams, Executive Member for Housing & Regeneration, said: “A better future for London’s council housing is possible but it requires national policy decisions that give secure and sustainable finances.”
Response to ‘Towards a new London Plan’
We’ve formally responded to the consultation on ‘Towards a new London Plan’, which closed yesterday evening, following on from the presentation by the Deputy Mayor, Jules Pipe, at London Forum’s event on 13th May.
We used some AI tools to help summarise our answers to the long set of questions in a readable format, with the detailed summary now held in our ‘What we’ve said’ archive here.
A shorter summary can be found below:
Section 1: Introduction
London Forum expresses strong reservations about the imposed Government’s [more…]
Spending Review
Matthew Pennycook MP, MHCLG Minister, wrote to social housing providers about £39 billion in the Spring Statement 2025 for a successor to the Affordable Homes Programme over 10 years of starts from 2026-27. It prioritises social rent homes and funds affordable rent and shared ownership.
Sadiq Khan issued a statement regretting the Spending Review had no funding for new London transport infrastructure to support development. He wrote that without it “We will not be able to build the numbers of new affordable homes Londoners need.” and “The way [more…]
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Guidance for councils : Opening up access to planning information
London Forum has published Guidance for Councils on access to planning application information.
From 31st October 2026, the National ...
Rainwater management and SuDS
The Rainwater Management Platform (RMP) will transform The Sustainable Urban Drainage SuDS Manual (C753) into a free to access online ...
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Rebuilding trust in the water sector
The Independent Water Commission published its report with 88 recommendations on restoring public and investor confidence in the water sector ...
Draft London Plan response – linked policy by policy
The GLA’s consultation on the draft London Plan 2026 closed on 15 October 2026, London Forum submitted a 39-page response. This is the short version: the main points, then in 'Our Comments policy by policy', a one or two-line summary of key ...
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Annual General Meeting 2026
📆 Wed 28th October | 18:30 - 20:30
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)
Wednesday 28 October 6.30pm at The Gallery, 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL Notice is hereby given to member societies of the 2026 AGM of the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies. Doors open for networking, drinks and nibbles from 6.00pm. Please book your place(s) using the booking facility ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/events/agm-2026#booking ). Agenda Welcome and Introduction Approval of the Minutes of the AGM of 16 October 2025, available here ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/agm-papers/ ) Chair’s Report – Chair Michael Jubb Financial Report – Treasurer Ali Dezyanian Approval of the Annual Report and Accounts for 2025-2026, available here ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/agm-papers/ ) Appointment of the Independent Examiner Election…
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Member Services Committee meeting
📅 Thu 3rd December | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room F3 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)
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